Spatula (bird)

Spatula
Male northern shoveler
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Tribe: Anatini
Genus: Spatula
Boie, F, 1822
Type species
Anas clypeata
Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
  • Anas (Pterocyanea) Bonaparte 1841[1]
  • Querquedula Stephens 1824
  • Querquedula Oken 1817 nomen nudum
  • Rhynchaspis Stephens 1824
  • Rhynchoplatus Berthold 1827
  • Cyanopterus Bonaparte1838 non Haliday 1835
  • Clypeata Lesson 1828
  • Anas (Micronetta) Roberts 1922
  • Adelonetta Heine & Reichenow 1890
  • Punanetta Bonaparte 1856
  • Fugaluna Trennins 1858

Spatula is a genus or subgenus of ducks in the family Anatidae that includes the shovelers, garganey, and several species of American teals.

Taxonomy[edit]

The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Anas. A molecular phylogenetic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus Anas, as then defined, was non-monophyletic.[2] Based on this published phylogeny, the genus Anas was split into four monophyletic genera with 10 species moved into the resurrected genus Spatula.[3]

The genus Spatula had originally been proposed by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822. The type species is the northern shoveler.[4][5] The name Spatula is the Latin word for "spoon", from which the English word "spatula" also originates.[6]

Extant species[edit]

The genus contains 10 species:[3]

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
S. querquedula Garganey Europe and western Asia
S. hottentota Blue-billed teal eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan and Ethiopia west to Niger and Nigeria and south to South Africa and Namibia
S. puna Puna teal the Andes of Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile and extreme northwestern Argentina
S. versicolor Silver teal southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the Falkland Islands
S. platalea Red shoveler Tierra del Fuego northwards to Chile and most parts of Argentina, as well as the Falkland Islands and small isolated breeding populations in southern Peru
S. cyanoptera Cinnamon teal South America, western United States and extreme southwestern Canada; a rare visitor to the East Coast of the United States
S. discors Blue-winged teal North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scotia and south to northern Texas
S. smithii Cape shoveler South Africa, uncommon further north in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia
S. rhynchotis Australasian shoveler Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand
S. clypeata Northern shoveler northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America

Phylogeny[edit]

Cladogram based on the analysis of Gonzalez and colleagues published in 2009.[2]

Spatula

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Part 7- Vertebrates". Collection of genus-group names in a systematic arrangement. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Gonzalez, J.; Düttmann, H.; Wink, M. (2009). "Phylogenetic relationships based on two mitochondrial genes and hybridization patterns in Anatidae". Journal of Zoology. 279 (3): 310–318. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00622.x.
  3. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Screamers, ducks, geese & swans". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  4. ^ Boie, Friedrich (1822). "Generalübersicht". Isis von Oken (in German). 1822. Col 564.
  5. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 460.
  6. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 361. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.